Homicide by a rifled shotgun slug: unconventional ballistics

Two types of firearms are well knownRifled and smoothbore. The shotgun is conventionally loaded with shot. Shot is a collective term for small balls of lead used primarily as projectiles in shotguns. Ammunition for shotguns in the USA is shotgun shells, shotshells, or just shells; cartridge is standard usage in the United Kingdom and India. Ballistic expertise in India of the world usually bases on the rigid idiom that pellets emerge from a shotgun while bullets and the like are fired from rifled weapons. Anything not conforming to this reasoning is treated and termed as ‘bizarre’. Homicide by shotgun slugs in India has not been reported extensively, though the incidence may be more than expected. This case highlights the fact that ammunition in the stricter sense may not be ‘pathognomic for a type of firearm and the crime solving agencies must re-educate themselves on this aspect.